Susan Glaspell's Trifles

In the early 1900's, the men seemed to rule the world while women had the job of being a good housewife, but Mrs. Wright changed that. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters notice many details that seem peculiar: how the sewing on one block of the quilt is askew, the damaged birdcage under the cupboard, and the deceased animal in a box wrapped in silk. In "Trifles,” Susan Glaspell challenges the idea that women are inferior to men through the use irony, detailed imagery, and symbols.
Irony is used to show that the men come into the home to do their job, while only searching for the facts; meanwhile the women, who are only worried about the “trifle” details, solve the case. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale piece together that Minnie wasn't happy; her house had …show more content…
Mr. Hale tells the police what he saw when he first went over to the house, but the reader gets an in depth look at all of the facts surrounding the case, "'Cause he's dead,' says she. 'Dead?' Says I. She just nodded her head, not getting a bit excited, but rockin' back and forth." (48-50). Minnie knew that he was dead because she was the one who killed him, so there was no reason for her to be alarmed. Through the use of diction the reader gets a look inside the house to see how it can be related to the state of Mrs. Wright, kind of messy but was once well cared for. The diction in the play also helps show the reader how anxious Minnie is “‘What was she doing?’ ‘She was rocking back and forth. She had her apron in her hand and was kind of- pleating it’” (33-35). She’s rocking back and forth in her chair, a calming motion, yet it could also be that she’s nervous of what is going to happen next which could prove that Minnie herself doesn’t know what’s going to happen to her now. All she knew before this was that she was a wife and now she a widow, which could be scary to her now. It could also prove that at the time she was acting impulsively, but now that she has had some time to think about it she may regret her